When it comes to attendance, the MAC currently plays several games on weeknights for a larger payday from ESPN. For most schools this might not be the best thing, but with our large commuter population, it addresses a large problem we currently have. The students would already be here due to classes and wouldn't have to come out on a weekend. I think we should experiment with a few Thursday night games in the coming years to see if attendance is better. I believe it might.
The CAA has great schools, it's still the FCS and FCS schools get a fraction of the coverage FBS schools get. It wasn't long ago that our conference games were against Gardner Webb, Presbyterian, Liberty, and VMI. Despite being in the CAA, attendance isn't any better than it was previously as our opponents are still irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The most poorly viewed bowl game gets more views than the FCS championship game.
A big benefit of being FBS that's being discounted is who we can get home games with OOC. Being FBS opens up the possibility for home games against big name schools in our region that are impossible to get right now. Umass, Uconn, Temple, Army, Navy, Pitt, Boston College, Syracuse, Rutgers, Maryland, all become potential home opponents once you go FBS. That cannot happen right now.
Those are solid points that I didn't consider. The thursday night game can be something to explore in the future. Maybe once or twice per season
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